The Reaper looked them all down one by one, sizing up its prey.

When it looked upon Zero it was like something had changed within it. It bared its teeth and started crouching lower.

"Is it just me or does that one seem to have it out for Z?" Five said.

Zero didn't answer as he got in a defensive stance. He still couldn't shake the thought that he's seen this particular Reaper before.

The Reaper opened its mouth and Zero's answer came in the form of a blast of molten fire.

"Move!" Haji yelled as he dove to the side. The others followed suit and quickly got out of the way.

The blast of fire hit the door behind them and melted it down to its frame. Four looked up from the floor and realized how close that was to being him.

"I knew it!" Zero said as he scrambled off the ground.

"Knew what?" Three asked.

Haji quickly interrupted. "Did you guys forget why we're here? We have a job to do!" Haji didn't want to have that conversation. Not yet anyways.

Zero stared over at Haji and then back to the Reaper. It's one of the ones from the forest! Zero thought. But why and how did it get here?! Two told them that we took all of them out…so why would they even bother going to check in the first place?

"Zero!" Haji's voice snapped him back to reality as the Reaper had shot out yet another blast aimed right at him.

"Move!"

Three jumped over in front of Zero. "50% output!" The muscles in her arm bulged erratically as she slammed her fist into the ground in front of them.

*BAM*

The force from the punch was enough to upheaval part of the metallic floor panel which caused it to come up as a makeshift shield in front of them. The fire hit the floor piece and shot was sent in two directions around the debris, impacting the walls behind them.

The floor piece feel back down with a *THUD*.

Zero looked at Three, "T-thanks for the save, Three."

She let out an exhale of air. "Anytime. Hey, is it okay if I handle this one, Sgt?"

"He's all yours." Haji looked over at Five. "Five, why are you still here?! Move!"

Five flinched as Haji yelled at him and quickly hopped to his tasks. "Yes, sir!" He darted off into the smokey haze to locate the other scientists.

He then looked at Zero. "Come on, Zero. We need to clear the rest of this room!"

"But sir! We can't leave Three to handle this on her own!" Zero said frantically.

Before Haji could scold him, Three spoke up first. "Whoa, don't think so little of your seniors there! While you may be ranked higher than me, I'm only outclassed by our Captain and just the tiniest bit by Two. Don't tell him I even admitted to that. All that to say, I can hold my own." She turned to him and gave him a thumbs up.

Zero paused for a moment. He had never considered where Three fell on the scale as he's never seen her go all out. Not in front of him anyways. So she kinda just fell into the same bucket as Five in his mind. But…she's ranked right after Two. That much is true.

He smiled and gave her one back. "Ok, Three!" He then paired up with Haji and ran off deeper into the chaos. Four stayed behind to guard the giant hole that used to be a door.

The Reaper seemed agitated that Zero ran off, but Three brought the attention back to her.

"He's not the whole show you know." She cracked her knuckles and then her neck. The Reaper snarled at her - thin trails of smoke started emitting from the open puncture wounds again.

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"Full body output, 40%." All of her muscles began to expand. It seemed like her overall mass had doubled, but her current strength was leaps and bounds beyond that.

The Reaper lunged at her, but Three kicked off the ground with her enhanced leg strength and did a strong leap into the air to avoid it. However the Reaper then turned around and shot another mighty blast of fire into the air at her.

Three ricochet off of the ceiling and out of the blast's direction. She landed several feet away from the Reaper - her increased body weight helped her maintain her balance.

The Reaper turned and looked at her as he was getting annoyed the more she avoided his attacks.

"GRRRRRAHHHHHH!" It stomped its feet repeatedly against the floor like it was throwing a tantrum.

Three kept her distance. The blasts are easy enough to avoid. She thought. And it seems like whatever they've been doing to it down here has weakened its agility and physical strength. Its attacks are sluggish…then why am I worried?

Her eyes fell upon all the open punctures in its skin. I've never seen a Reaper with holes like that, she thought to herself. So why were these scientists poking it full of holes? What exactly were they looking to achieve?

*Psssssssssst*

The smoke trails coming out of the holes in its body were becoming darker and more dense.

"Something tells me you're gearing up for the big one." Three said to it. The Reaper slowly took a few steps forward, closing the distance step by step. It was clearly up to something.

"Full body output, 10%." Three's muscles became leaner as her muscle mass shrank.

She dashed towards the Reaper. "Well it doesn't matter what you're trying to do if I just break you apart first!" Having lost a good bit of muscle, she was able to move at an agile speed and was able to close the distance in no time.

The Reaper seemed surprised that Three was now going on the offense. It opened its mouth to let loose another wave of fire, but Three had other plans.

She ducked in and sent a quick uppercut towards the Reaper's chin as it was preparing its attack. "40% output." Right before impact, she greatly increased the muscle in her right arm and dealt a much more heavy blow than expected.

*BAM!* The Reaper's chin shot upward from the blow. Three wasted no time in following up. As The Reaper was slightly being lifted off the ground from the force of the blow, Three was already coming down with her left hand for the big one.

"70% output. Devastation haymaker!" Her left fist was already coming down with decent speed, but the sudden dramatic increase in mass made it drop like a hammer. It impacted the Reaper on top of its head as it was turning upwards from the last attack and brought the Reaper crashing down to the ground with astounding force.

*BOOOOM!*

A sickening snap could be heard as the Reaper hit the floor - the area around it cracking under the immense force. Once it impacted the ground a combination of smoke and hot ash shot out of each of its puncture wounds. One of the sprays caught Three on the outside part of her leg

"Fuck!"

Three raised her fist. "Total body, 50% output!"

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *SQUELCH* *BAM*

She delivered blow after blow upon the fallen Reaper until the dull thuds of flesh turned to the squishy sound of punching blood and ripped apart flesh.

Three finally stopped her assault as the Reaper was nothing more than a bloody heap on the floor now. She looked down at her leg and saw a pretty bad burn where the steam hit. The steam had burned away the top layer of skin in that one spot, leaving a red irritated wound.

She winced in pain as the shock started to wear off. But more than pain, she was confused. Her bet was that the Reaper was about to release a bunch of fire from the openings on his body to catch more than he normally would in his attack radius. Something that the scientists at Alpha Base had purposely did to it.

"Three, I think we have a problem." Four called out from near the entrance to the stairwell. The haze caused by all the smoke made it hard for Three to see him clearly but she could pick up his voice just fine.

"No, I just took care of our problem Four! Now I need to go backup Zero and-"

"That's just it, Four! I can sense something….terrifying on the other side of the lab." Four had the abilities to pick up energy signatures. With his ESP, he was not only able to detect energy levels but also he could read emotions. A strong emotion would give off a certain feeling that Four could decipher as to what it was.

"You mean over where Zero and Two are??"

"...No…"

Over near the containment cells, Five had made it and checked in with the surviving scientists. There were only three currently trying to reinstate the security protocol in order to avoid further breakouts.

"So how many got out?!" Five demanded of them. They were frantically pressing buttons and typing in data.

"We're not entirely sure at the moment! Almost all of our lower rank subjects were able to break out. This is pure and utter chaos right now!!" The scientist yelled out.

"Well, what about the stronger ones? You guys have those locked up here too right?"

"Yes. Thankfully only one escaped. The rest are still locked up and we're trying to make sure it stays that way! If all of them got out…lets just say we would have to make some very serious phone calls."

Five looked around at them as they ran around and didn't have the first clue how to help them. "Ok. Soooo. Is there anything I can do?"

*tmp* *tmp* *tmp* *tmp*

"We can handle this part. Listen, I would strongly advise you and one of your….compatriots quickly contain the high rank that got out. That one is particularly nasty after all the…um, nevermind. It's still around here somewhere!"

*tmp* *tmp* *tmp*

"Ok, that I understand. I'll go find Z and we'll-"

"So, you're Five eh?" An unfamiliar voice called out from behind them.

"Huh?"

Five went to turn around to face whoever it was, but was instead met with a dagger shoved straight into his stomach.